I find it curious that the first day of Lent is on Valentine’s Day. I can’t think of a better way to spend a day about love than preparing our hearts and minds for Good Friday and Easter. An opportunity to go deeper with God and personal reflection.
I was noticing the scar on my right hand this morning and thought about how good of a reminder it is. I have tattoos of scriptures that are reminders of His Word and now I have a reminder of His forgiveness and sacrificial love.
As I was running this morning, I was listening to Bridgetown’s sermon from Sunday (I have the link at the bottom of this post, if you’re interested). The first thing that caught my attention was the scripture they read in the beginning. It’s the last verse I memorized.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God— This is truly the way to worship Him.”
Romans 12:1
I am embarrassed to say it’s the only verse I have memorized so far this year. For the past 2-3 years I have been memorizing a new scripture every 1-2 weeks. I have been slacking at even reciting them recently. The more days that go by that I don’t, I start stumbling on the words and forgetting. I’m telling you this so I will get back in the habit.
Halfway through my run, Tyler, the pastor at Bridgetown, mentioned Isaiah 58. I immediately stopped running, paused the sermon, fell down to my knees in the middle of the park, crying, asking God what He was trying to tell me.
On my flight to Africa in November, I had asked the Lord what He wanted me to do in Africa and He led me to this scripture:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter –
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”
Isaiah 58:6-7
I knelt there in silence, not hearing anything but enjoying the morning sun against my face. When I got back up, I pressed play on the sermon and kept running. Then Tyler said, “Fasting is willingly entering into the suffering of someone else. Fasting is co-suffering, it is to willingly carry the pain of another.” That was my answer. Ok Lord, that is what I will do today. It’s what I will do in Africa.
I purchased my round-trip flight to South Africa. I leave on March 11th and will return home after attending their Easter service. My heart is swollen as I think about returning to them. My first trip, last March, was when I went with a mission group from church. We helped them create a serve week for their community and participated in it. This March they will be doing their serve week for the first time on their own. I was asked to come back during this time period specifically so I could help with it.
I will be there for 3 weeks, a week to prepare for serve week, a week for serve week and a week of services leading up to Easter, all sprinkled with therapy sessions. I can’t think of a better way to spend March!
During serve week we will be going to the high school, the primary school, the retirement home, making gift bags for less privileged areas in the community, volunteering at a local charity, playing yard games with kids in the community, helping with church maintenance and their renovation project.
Items that will be going into the gift bags include:
Toothpaste
Toothbrushes
Bars of Soap
Wash cloths
I will be making a donation box to leave outside my therapy office if anyone is interested in donating the above items. I am also raising money for donating to the church for their renovations and maintenance. The goal is $10,000- to raise $5,000 and I will match the other $5,000. If you would like to donate, my email address thechambersforlifechange@gmail.com is linked to Zelle, Venmo and Cash App. Checks can be made payable to The Chambers of Life Change Foundation. Over the past month or so I have been working with a non-profit fundraising specialist to help create a non-profit. As of recently, it is active! The website just isn’t ready yet. Please feel free to contact me by the above email if you have any questions! Thank you all for your continued support! I can’t wait to see what God has in store for this non-profit and to watch it unfold!